1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system architecture for arranging power conversion, power interconnect and power dissipation elements associated with high performance microprocessors onto a computer""s main board in a compact form factor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In high density, high power devices such as microprocessors for servers and desktop systems it is often difficult to adequately interconnect power conversion modules close to the devices loads due to thermal, mechanical, and other constraints. This is because the power in such devices often requires large heatsinks, which encroach on the power conversion modules and force the power conversion to be further away than desired. Thus, what often results are high static and dynamic voltage drops across the power interconnect, due to high currents and high slew-rate switching of the microprocessor load, potentially resulting in false switching of the device itself which may corrupt data. Furthermore, the thermal management of the microprocessor and the power conversion module is usually handled separately resulting in high costs and inefficient packaging volumes. Therefore, it is seen that there is a need to bring the power regulation circuitry closer to the load while reducing the interconnect impedance and combining the thermal management of both the microprocessor and the power regulation circuitry all within a small form factor and easy to assemble construction which is of reasonably low cost.
The present invention is described by an integrated electronic assembly. The electronic assembly comprises a heat dissipating device, a power conditioning circuit board, a power dissipating device mounted on a substrate, and a power interconnect assembly. The power conditioning circuit board includes a first side thermally coupled to the heat dissipating device, a power conditioning circuit for producing a conditioned power signal, and an aperture. The power dissipating device has a top surface thermally coupled to the heat dissipation device through the aperture. The substrate includes at least one power conductor disposed proximate at least one of the edges of the substrate. The power interconnection assembly, which electrically couples the conditioned power signal to the substrate and provides substantially all power to the substrate, includes an edge connector assembly removably coupled to the at least one edge of the substrate.